It Was All Shimura Danzō's Doing

Before Konoha's gates, the first ray of sunlight pierced through the morning mist.

The chūnin guarding the gate suddenly tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand.

"Th... What is that?"

On the horizon, a black dragon-like procession slowly writhed toward the village.

As it drew closer, the clattering of metal stretchers became clearer, mixed with suppressed sobbing.

"Open the gates!" Uchiha Yakumi's hoarse roar tore through the morning mist.

When the first stretcher passed through the gates, the watching villagers collectively sucked in a breath.

On it lay a boy who looked no more than seven or eight. Terror was still frozen on his pale face. There was a diamond-shaped wound on his throat, clearly inflicted by a kunai unique to Kirigakure.

But there were 884 similar corpses, stretching farther than the eye could see.

"Move! Everyone, move!" Uchiha Yakumi left bloody footprints on the ground with every step.

The corpses on the stretchers were not covered with sheets, allowing everyone nearby to clearly see the wounds on the children.

When the procession reached the commercial district, a woman holding an infant suddenly rushed out of the crowd.

"Xiao Wu! That's Xiao Wu!"

She threw herself madly toward stretcher number 147. The child on it had a charred hole in his left chest, clearly pierced through by Fire Release. Her trembling fingers brushed over the child's stiff cheek.

"He only turned eight not long ago..." The woman's wail suddenly stopped, and she collapsed beside the stretcher like a puppet with its strings cut.

By noon, the Ninja Academy's training ground had become an open-air morgue.

When the last body was placed on the Ninja Academy's training ground, it was packed tightly with children's corpses.

The surrounding parents had long since cried themselves hoarse...

A one-armed ninja knelt before body number 326, his trembling hand opening a bloodstained diary.

The final page was dated three days earlier, written in crooked handwriting: "Another companion died today. I'm so scared. Dad, Dad, I want to go home..."

Blood suddenly flowed from the one-armed ninja's single eye. He tore at his hair like a madman. "My son was only nine! Nine!"

The protest outside the Hokage Building had already turned into a riot.

Stones, rotten vegetables, and foul eggs continuously struck the building. The fifth-floor windows finally gave way under the barrage, shattering with a crash.

A shard cut a bloody line across Utatane Koharu's right cheek. Her trembling fingers wiped at the blood on her face. "Th... This is madness..."

"Sarutobi Hiruzen! Get out here!"

"Murderer!"

"Give me back my daughter's life!"

The furious crowd surrounded the Hokage Building so tightly that not even water could pass through, and some Anbu had already slipped away.

Mitokado Homura wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "We must immediately take meas—"

His words were interrupted by a deafening crash. The Hokage Building's doors were smashed open, and hundreds of villagers rushed inside. Leading them was the one-armed chūnin who had lost his son.

Hatred burned in the chūnin's single eye. "Where is he? Where is that old bastard who ordered children to go die?"

Since the Hokage's office had already been smashed apart by furious villagers, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others could only hide in an underground office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat alone in the darkness. On the desk was a framed photograph of him with his three disciples.

Jiraiya's hearty smile, Orochimaru's gloomy gaze, Tsunade's proud expression...

"Sarutobi, what are you still hesitating for? The Uchiha Clan is stirring up this chaos!"

Shimura Danzō stepped out of the shadows, the bandage over his right eye looking especially glaring.

It was all Danzo's doing. We knew nothing... Danzo, punish yourself with three drinks and call it discipline!

Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly raised his head. "Those children... I..."

Shimura Danzō slammed his palm against the table. "Weakness! This is not the time for repentance! Root is already prepared. As long as you give the order..."

The Third suddenly rose to his feet, the exhaustion in his eyes replaced by resolve. "No. I will bear the mistakes I made myself."

He removed the Hokage Hat and gently placed it on the desk. "Tomorrow, I will publicly announce my resignation as Hokage."

Shimura Danzō's single eye narrowed slightly. "Have you gone mad? Stepping down now is exactly what the Uchiha Clan wants!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked toward the moonlight beyond the window. "Perhaps. But this is the only way to calm their anger."

A female Anbu suddenly appeared and whispered a few words into Sarutobi Hiruzen's ear.

After seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen nod, the female Anbu waved her hand. Three Anbu instantly appeared and surrounded Shimura Danzō.

"Sarutobi, what do you think you're doing?"

The Third's voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "Danzo, someone must take responsibility for this. You only need to make a small sacrifice. Nothing will happen to you."

Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen had grown up together, and Shimura Danzō instantly guessed what Sarutobi Hiruzen intended to do.

"Sarutobi, you can't do this..."

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

Hearing those words, Shimura Danzō seemed to lose all his strength.

"Sarutobi, you'll regret this..."

Seeing this, the four Anbu moved as one, seized Shimura Danzō, and forcibly gagged him.

A notice was posted on the Hokage bulletin board: "The early graduation policy and the dispatch of children to the Kirigakure battlefield were both proposed and carried out by Shimura Danzō. Due to the special nature of this matter, the Hokage Building has specifically released the contents of that day's meeting."

Attendees: Third Hokage, Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura

Topic: Response plan for the Kirigakure invasion

Incident: On November 4, three thousand Kirigakure ninja breached the southern coastal defenses and were advancing toward the heartland of the Land of Fire.

Utatane Koharu proposed, "The front lines are in urgent danger. Reinforcements must be sent immediately."

Mitokado Homura pushed up his glasses. "But the regular forces are all on the Iwagakure front, the Kumogakure front, the Sunagakure front..."

Shimura Danzō's single eye gleamed in the shadows. "Draw over a thousand people from Konoha's ninja clans, then select two thousand children from the Ninja Academy. That should be enough."

The Third's hand suddenly began to tremble, and his pipe fell onto the table with a clatter.

"Danzo, have you gone mad? Those children haven't even mastered the Three Basic Jutsu..."

Shimura Danzō sneered. "Foolish. Pedantic. Sarutobi, mercy has no place in command. We need someone to hold them back. If we let those Kirigakure ninja advance unchecked... the consequences would be unimaginable..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen angrily rebuked him. "Danzo... Children are the village's future... How can you do this!"

Shimura Danzō remained expressionless. "Since you don't dare do it, then let me. I will bear all responsibility!"

After saying that, Shimura Danzō slammed the door and left.

After hearing that the early graduation policy had been Shimura Danzō's doing, the enraged villagers, unable to find him, began looting and smashing Shimura Clan shops...

More than a dozen members of the Shimura Clan were even beaten to death in the streets, frightening many Shimura clansmen into not daring to leave their clan grounds...